Sunday, June 26, 2016

We were four years too late for the opening of Dean & Deluca in Singapore (to much fanfare and rave reviews). With the Orchard Central flagship outlet apparently closed for renovations, we hopped down to the outlet at HillV2 for brunch.

The Place

Relatively spacious with high ceiling windows to allow for lots of natural light in against a predominantly white background of walls, tables and chairs, D&D seemed pretty quiet on a weekend late morning. The handful of customers seemed like residents of the neighbourhood (my conjecture); not quite a good sign of things to come?

Truffle Scented Carbonara

This was a weekend special and I'm usually a sucker for carbonara. Just not this one. For starters, the sauce was thick but lacked depth or richness and came across as creamy at best. Spaghetti was a little soft and I couldn't make out any scent of truffle. The only positive came from the generous serving of bacon slices and crisp bacon rashers. Very average overall.

American Country Breakfast

Huge servings aside, the American Country Breakfast was a disappointment in many ways. For starters, the sausage came across as bland. Ditto the scrambled eggs, which really could have used a little more milk as well. The toast was crisp but lacked fragrance whilst the side of hash brown was a tad too hard. Seriously average.

Caramel Cheesecake

I didn't quite take to this as the moist base lacked the crumbly texture that I personally like. But both the cheese and caramel didn't come across as too overwhelming. Overall an average eat.

Brioche French Toast

This dish looked absolutely delicious but although the flavours were pretty good, the toast itself was quite a letdown. Coated with cereal which gave a crunch on the outside, it was disappointingly limp and soft on the inside. I would have expected the insides to retain a certain measure of compactness and firmness but alas! Drenched in caramel sauce and topped with berries, bananas and served with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream, the whole concoction tasted a little like sticky date pudding.

Bill

With 50% off, we paid $45, which isn't expensive for the quantity of food. However quality is lacking which probably explains the sparse crowd during weekend brunch hours. I won't be back, not even with the 50% reduction.

Sunday, June 05, 2016

Fresh from the memory of Lan Fong Yuen's (蘭芳園) delicious Hong Kong style French toast, we decided to drop by Man Wah (民華餐廳), another highly recommended place for this iconic Hong Kong dish. Note: Do not confuse this place with the similarly named Man Wah Bakery (文華冰廳餅店) nearby or the atas Man Wah (文華廳) at the Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong.

The Place

Man Wah is your typical Cha Chaan Teng (茶餐厅) that offers a decent dining enviroment and service; something along the lines of Tsui Wah and 大家樂. Business was rather quiet on a Sunday morning and we had no problems choosing a seat.

French Toast (20 HKD)

The toast was rather unconventional (as far as HK toasts go); deep fried on the outside but very thick and fluffy with a generous splashing of condensed milk (choice of condensed milk or sugar) and melting butter. Rather tasty (not to mention filling!) without coming across as too oily. However, I personally still prefer Lan Fong Yuen's irresistable rendition even though it's a tad more expensive.

About Me

Instagram Feed

Disclaimer

(1) All opinions and thoughts reflected in this blog are mine and mine alone. They do not represent the opinions of other people in general.

(2) As taste is subjective, I shall not be deemed liable for any food expedition gone awry aka follow my recommendations at your own risk! Due care has been exercised in ensuring that the information is correct at the time of publishing.

(3) All content and photos of this blog are copyrighted by me, so kindly respect that. In the event anyone wishes to use my substandard photographs, be it in part or whole, please drop me an email and I'll be happy to oblige.

(4) I seek neither fame nor fortune hence no sponsorships or advertisements for me. I have also stopped accepting restaurant invites because I've come to realise that integrity means alot more to me than a free meal. Please read this.

(5) As this is a not for profit/non commercialised personal space, I eat what I can afford (which follows the economic cycle) and blog about it.

(6) Please feel free to drop me a mail here if you have any questions or comments and I'll be happy to address them.